Juniper is a native Oregon species. But decades of fire suppression and grazing have allowed the tree to spread voraciously over Eastern and Central Oregon. That’s a problem because juniper consumes sage grouse habitat and sucks up a lot of water.

The Oregon Legislature passed two bills at the end of the session to help boost juniper harvest, HB 2997 and HB 2998…

Twisted old Juniper trees can make for a pretty photograph, but they don’t have a lot of commercial uses. And that can be a problem because there are a lot of juniper trees in Eastern Oregon, taking up space and water, and changing the habitat for species like the sage-grouse…

For years, foresters and conservationists have been trying to create new markets for western juniper in Oregon. The species has overrun some parts of the state, and is sucking scarce water from Oregon’s high desert.

A handful of custom sawmills that are willing to work with the small knotty tree have experimented with juniper fence posts and juniper cabinets and juniper shavings for pet bedding.

Meanwhile, in a tiny town in Sweden not far from the Arctic Circle, master distiller Jon Hillgren wondered what gin would taste like if it were aged in a juniper barrel.

One concern this time of year is that juniper collects snow in its canopy, leaving bare grass below for wildlife to get something to eat. When it’s cut, there’s no break in the snow cover on the ground, he said…

FOSSIL, Ore. — When you walk into Kendall Derby’s mill, the first thing you notice is the smell. It’s sharp and evergreen, like the high desert after a rain. But Derby doesn’t notice the smell of juniper.

‘People walk in here and they say oh, I love the smell. And I don’t have a sense of smell. Born without it. Never smelled it,” he laughs.

Derby runs In The Sticks sawmill on the outskirts of Fossil. It’s a mill dedicated to the bushy, short juniper tree…

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Oregon’s Western Juniper gets a bad rap. Although it’s a native species, juniper forests have spread uncontrollably in the central and eastern parts of the state, threatening sage grouse habitat and sucking the water table dry…